As in the case of motor vehicles, improper alignment of the wheels of a trailer can cause extraordinary wear on the trailer tires. The excessive wear is caused by the tendency of the trailer to pull to the left or right as the trailer is towed forward.
Presently, trailer axles are mounted to the leaf springs of the trailer using an axle perch, as shown in FIG. 1. The perch is an elongated cradle, having an aperture through the center of the bottom plate, and positioning flanges depending from its lower surface. The perch is placed on top of a leaf spring assembly, with the positioning flanges extending downwardly on opposite sides of the leaf spring assembly. The positioning flanges are rigidly affixed to the lower surface of the cradle, and are positioned to fit adjacent the sides of the leaf spring assembly. The pin that aligns the multiple leaves of the leaf spring assembly extends upwardly through the uppermost leaf, and into the aperture in the bottom of the cradle. The trailer axle is placed into the perch and welded into place. The axle and perch are fastened to the leaf spring assembly using a pair of U-bolts and a tie plate. The design of the axle perch presently used does not permit adjustment of the axis of the axle for proper alignment.